Rose Yates, take a bow

What was once a dingy, understaffed and struggling clinic now occupies nearly a city block, thanks to the the under-the-radar work of the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center's chairwoman.

There's a framed oil portrait on the wall of the conference room at the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center downtown. Just one: Rose Yates, chairwoman of the center for the past 25 years.

Nobody else really qualifies because, as far as the center goes, she's probably going to hold that record for a long time.

After three decades in New Bedford, I met Rose Yates this week, which just goes to underscore the under-the-radar work she's been doing for so long to see the center prosper.

And I do mean prosper. What was once a dingy, understaffed and struggling clinic in the old technical college building on Purchase Street now occupies nearly a city block.

There is 89,000 square feet of interior space, and all of it looks like it was built last week. Which it almost was: What may be Rose's crowning achievement was the announcement of a deluge of federal stimulus money in 2009. There was $400,000 for software upgrades, $300,000 to met increased demand for services, and a fat $1.7 million in capital improvements.

"At first we had to keep it a secret and I could hardly stand it," she said, laughing.

The current success was unimaginable when she started 26 years ago as a member of the board. "The office was tiny — just 35 people and three doctors," she said.

Then calamity, as the director, finance director and medical director all bailed out right in the middle of a hostile federal audit. "They were trying to put us out of business, to give the money to someone else," Rose said. Doctors were leaving after they satisfied the terms of their public service tuition grants.

"There was no continuity, no hospital privileges and local health care providers were not too fond of us," she said.

Somehow, the center survived the audit and the resignations. And, after a search, the center found Stuart Forman to be executive director, and Forman in turn hired Peter Georgeopoulos, the current director, to be financial officer.

The result was a period of endless expansion, which is now turning toward opening a diabetes clinic, according to Georgeopolous.

Until she retired about 10 ago years from her professional career in health management, Rose steered the board through all of this growth, again, as I said, with the world outside the center barely aware of her role.

And, amazingly, all of this from a woman raised in Catholic schools at a time when women's career choices seemed limited to nurse, teacher or secretary, and pregnant teachers were dismissed.

Rose, who is from New Bedford, holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and a minor in French (her first language) literature. Not exactly the qualifications for a career in health care management.

She was coaxed into teaching and took a job teaching fifth-graders at the Campbell School. "I hated it," she said. "I love children but not in groups. I'm not a strong disciplinarian." It was over after two years.

So she became a social worker in Fairhaven, loved it, and soon found herself on a career ladder with MassHealth, where she was policy director for long-term care, then policy director of eligibility, then quality control. For 15 years she did double duty in her job and at the center.

As she winds down her involvement — "I'm going to keep my mouth shut and let someone else do the talking," she said — Rose is greeted by practically the entire staff as she walks through the labyrinth of corridors at the center, where she will remain as a board member.

And from now on, that portrait will serve as a reminder and a challenge: Can anyone do such a job with the tools at Rose Yates' disposal?

Steve Urbon's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Standard-Times and at SouthCoastToday.com. He can be reached at 508-979-4448 and at surbon@s-t.com.

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